Since the start of the year, we’ve held several events for sales leaders to talk about increasing target achievement. The following are the five most frequently asked questions.
Three great tools you can use are communications, tangible rewards (points), and recognition from managers:
Ideally no more than 90 days. Depending on how quickly your data comes in for the metric you’ve chosen, the minimum period could be 30 days (progress updates weekly). Periods of 45 days and 60 days are also prevalent.
If the data used to rank the participants is clear and transparent, and if the participants have an opportunity to change their rank throughout the incentive based on their actions, you will not have negative tension. The negativity comes when people feel unfairly ranked or have no way to affect where they are on the list. Best practice is to update the list frequently so that participants can see movement.
There are many structures where sales people don’t compete against each other. Some of the most effective are very simple and only involve the individual’s performance, a “do this, get that” scenario.
Other rule structures can drive collaboration by setting a team goal. If the team achieves X, they each get Y; or, if the team achieves X, the team shares Y according to their % contribution.
Either can still work if the organisation’s leadership is actively communicated and transparent about the internal issues that are being worked on. If the sales team sees a problem, but no one else is taking it seriously, then neither will work. In this scenario, it would be better to incentivise them with short, quarterly initiatives using a metric that they directly impact.